Cutting a 55 Gallon Drum

Be very, very careful...I once saw a man blown to bits because he was grinding on a barrel that had once held diesel fuel. The fuel was long gone, barrel had been filled/emptied with water several times; nevertheless, when he cut through the side a spark ignited diesel fumes and BOOM!

I know vegetable oil isn't diesel oil but it still burns.

-- dadiOH ____________________________

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You can use a sawsall, a jigsaw, a giant can opener, an axe, or a cutting torch. If you cut the entire top inch off, you can use a circular saw. Preferably with a cutoff wheel in it.

Fill it with water and put a metal cutting blade on whatever saw you happen to own and carve it off. The water will keep it from igniting if that is even possible with vegetable oil...good luck....

Grainger's $50 can opener does a good job, with smooth edges.

Nick

Sawzall. Take the top off anything.

I had a summer job in an oil field once, and the way we did it was with a pipe wrench and a small sledge hammer. Go around the top with the pipe wrench jaw just over the rim and whack it with the hammer. Then move it an inch and whack it again. Repeat. It does a surprisingly good job and turns the rough edge down. Takes a while though...

Bob

Cold chisel and 2 1/2 lb. hammer; keep the chisel tight against the rim, and hold it at about 15 degrees from vertical behind the direction of travel. I've done a couple of dozen like this.

I have done the same thing a number of times.

With water int it??? It had better be a cordless saw!!!!!!!!!

Air chisel with v shaped blade for cutting sheetmetal. Leave a lip you can bend downward. Don't cut off the top ring, or the barrell will lose a lot of its rigidity.

Steve

Stop by local muffler shop, and pay them five bucks to do it with their air-powered cold chisel?

The guy that mentioned the giant can opener was right- that is how people in the business do it. Might call around to local rental places and see if they have that tool in their library. Don't know what the proper name is, but if you describe the situation, it should ring a bell for them. The rentall place will have electric chisels.

aem sends...

Same here. Doesn't take very long either. Seems like everybody ignores the simple solution for the 'more power' methods.

Harry K

Why? The blade won't rust.

Saw this method used in a third world salvage yard. Grab a comfortable length of car suspension spring, probably 24 inches long. Cut one end at 45 deg or thereabouts and sharpen that. Hold the other end of the spring and use a hammer to hit the end with the sharp edge to cut whatever part of the steel barrel you want. Those guys were removing barrel lids and cutting windows on the barrel's sides like there was no tomorrow.

After you start it with a chisel, you can use a Sawzall (with the metal blade of course) to finish cutting it.

For a better burning barrel, cut *both* ends out in a manner suggested by others. Set the remaining cylinder on a grate (the heavier the better) supported by concrete blocks or such. This will allow more air to get to your fire providing more complete combustion and less ashes.

Steve

the name you're looking for is drum deheader.

Sounds better. One of my neighbors made a "grate" by pushing several rebars through holes near the bottom. A bottomless drum on a concrete block U would get lots of airflow, and it would be easy to shovel ashes out.

Nick

Indeed it does burn better. Load it with trash, shove a few crumpled sheets of newspaper under it and stand back. Will go like a blow torch. Been doing it since 1978. Barrels don't last as long though.

Harry K